MacPAF
MacPAF is a free family history and
genealogy application for Mac OS X. It is designed to replace the aging
Family Records application that is part of the PAF for Macintosh
product produced by the LDS Church. MacPAF is not affiliated with, endorsed, or supported
by the Church, and is my own personal project.
I have a new Blog page to show the current status of the project.
This project is now also hosted at SourceForge where the source code and downloads are located.
History and Motivation
PAF® (Personal Ancestral File) is a family history and genealogy
application by The Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS). The Macintosh version
featured an application called Family Records (commonly referred to as
MacPAF) and got to version 2.3.1 in
1996 before being discontinued by the Church. At that time, the
Mac
version was far superior to the PC version, and remained so for several
years.
However, the Windows version is now up to version 5.2 and is
freely
downloadable from the Church's FamilySearch
family history web site. It has improved significantly and added
several
new features, the most important being GEDCOM 5.5 and multimedia
support.
The old Mac version still runs in Classic mode on Mac OS X, but is clearly showing its age, and most importantly, does not support any modern version of GEDCOM. I still use Family Records in Classic mode, but its limitations are straining its ability to be useful anymore. So I resolved to write a version that eliminates most of theses limitations, runs natively on Mac OS X, but maintains a similar interface and simplicity of Family Records.
There are commercial genealogy programs for Macintosh that are very good (Reunion and GEDitCOM as well as others) and some open source projects that will run on Mac OS X (GenerationX, GenealogyJ, and others) but they are either too expensive, too hard to use, or do not support needed LDS features like TempleReady and LDS ordinance data.
MacPAF will never have as many features or be as nice as the paid genealogy applications, but is intended to fill the need for a free, adequate genealogy program with specific focus on LDS ordinances.
I encourage you to consider some of the other offerings for the Mac at MacGenealogy.Screen shots
The old Family Records 2.3.1 looks something like this:
MacPAF will look something like this:
I have a new Blog page to show the current status of the project.
This project is now also hosted at SourceForge where the source code and downloads are located.
History and Motivation
PAF® (Personal Ancestral File) is a family history and genealogy
application by The Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS). The Macintosh version
featured an application called Family Records (commonly referred to as
MacPAF) and got to version 2.3.1 in
1996 before being discontinued by the Church. At that time, the
Mac
version was far superior to the PC version, and remained so for several
years.
However, the Windows version is now up to version 5.2 and is
freely
downloadable from the Church's FamilySearch
family history web site. It has improved significantly and added
several
new features, the most important being GEDCOM 5.5 and multimedia
support.The old Mac version still runs in Classic mode on Mac OS X, but is clearly showing its age, and most importantly, does not support any modern version of GEDCOM. I still use Family Records in Classic mode, but its limitations are straining its ability to be useful anymore. So I resolved to write a version that eliminates most of theses limitations, runs natively on Mac OS X, but maintains a similar interface and simplicity of Family Records.
There are commercial genealogy programs for Macintosh that are very good (Reunion and GEDitCOM as well as others) and some open source projects that will run on Mac OS X (GenerationX, GenealogyJ, and others) but they are either too expensive, too hard to use, or do not support needed LDS features like TempleReady and LDS ordinance data.
MacPAF will never have as many features or be as nice as the paid genealogy applications, but is intended to fill the need for a free, adequate genealogy program with specific focus on LDS ordinances.
I encourage you to consider some of the other offerings for the Mac at MacGenealogy.
Screen shots
The old Family Records 2.3.1 looks something like this: MacPAF will look something like this:
Development
Development is in progress on MacPAF. The major features anticipated are:- Full support for GEDCOM 5.5
- Allow multiple files open simultaneously
- Support for photos and multimedia
- Improved notes and sources
- Compatibility with TempleReady for Windows
- Integration with Internet resources like FamilySearch
- Custom reports
- Match/Merge
- Focus groups
I could use some help with icons and logos. If you are skilled in that arena and can offer free or extremely affordable services, let me know.
About me
My name is Logan Allred. I am a senior in Computer Science at Brigham Young University (BYU) in Provo, Utah. I have been using Apple computers since my dad brought home an Apple II+ in the late 1970s. This project is my first major undertaking using the Cocoa frameworks, though I have been developing commercially in Java for 3 years, mostly doing enterprise/web Java work with EJBs and Servlets/JSP for Learnframe and uCoast.com. I am now working for Convergys doing WebObjects development. You can view my resume (PDF, HTML, Word) or my (.Mac homepage.Updated 11 Apr 2006 by Logan Allred.
